FOCAL POINT
January 2001 Vol. 4 Issue 3
FOCAL POINT
January 2001 Vol. 4 Issue 3
Register now for our Friends’ Day at OLA. Our program includes two sessions. The first will be a strategic planning workshop, promising to be high energy and packed with tips and tools we can all use. The “Getting Friendlier” session which follows is a chance to pick up some tips on amalgam-ation and your own copy of the Amalgamation Toolkit.
The conference will also be our first look at the puppet pattern courtesy of Don Mills, CEO of Mississauga Public Library. Order forms will be at our booth, and later from the web site. A portion of all sales of the pattern will go to FOCAL.
The registration fee of $30 includes luncheon, and we will be joining
OLA conference delegates in their Millennium celebration. Look for registration
forms on the OLA and FOCAL websites, and register now!
Government report on Friends of Libraries – British Isles
The Library and Information Commission (LIC) produced a report relating
to the need for the establishment of a Federation of Friends of Libraries
in the British Isles. The executive summary of this report may be found
at
http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/executivesummaries/rr005.html
Researchers used questionnaires, focus groups and surveys to investigate the work of Friends of Libraries. They noted, “The greatest development of Friends of Libraries Groups has been in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.”
They concluded that involvement of library users in the future of their libraries is an important development Reasons for the formation of Friends groups are to:
- be advocates for the library
- defend libraries from proposed closure
- support and enhance the library service though fund-raising
- provide a means for the library to consult and involve users in proposals
for the service
- enable users to represent the needs of the service to governing bodies
or councils
“There is substantial support for the establishment of a support network
that can exchange ideas and experience and enable Groups to work together,”
the report concluded. It was recommended that “all library users are urged
to join and support their Friends of Libraries Group, or to work with other
users, and the library to form one.”
The report recommended Friends Groups encourage establishment of a
support network in the British Isles, and for the Library Association,
similarly, to encourage the growth of further Friends of Libraries Groups
and promote the establishment of a support network for Friends of Libraries
Groups.
It was also recommended the government should make available funds for
the establishment of a support network, and that the Library and Information
Commission should publish guidelines for the establishment of Friends of
Libraries Groups.
5th annual Friends’ Day at CLA
Saturday June 16, 2001
9 - 10:15
Advocacy: Key role of Friends of the Library groups
Guest speaker will be Jan Dalmyn. Delegates will learn about the issues and techniques of advocacy, and the Winnipeg experience. Response to this experience, and the outcomes will be discussed by the speaker, the former chair of the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library.
10:45 - noon
Fundraising in the library culture
Speakers: Mary Birt, Vice-President and Penelope Burk, President of Burk & Associates
Workshop outline:
What does a Friends group aspire to achieve through fund-raising?
Donor-centred fund-raising as both philosophy and methodology
in not-for-profit organizations
Information is fund-raising
Strategic planning as a framework for making decisions and achieving
results
Fund-raising programs and administrative structure
Noon - 2 p.m
Luncheon and Annual General Meeting
Keynote speaker Helen Hayles, Executive Director, Volunteer Centre of Winnipeg. Her topic will be The Changing Role of the Volunteer in the Millennium.
Please plan to join us in Winnipeg. Expect the registration deadline to be mid-May for the $30 registration fee.
The OLA countdown is underway, and it promises to be another stimulating networking and learning experience. I view it with a mixture of anticipation and dread, hoping all’s well that ends well, as they say.
This newsletter was culled together through a filtering of Internet news from various sources, combined with news from e-mail contributors. Please continue to send me your news and events, as the March and June (CLA conference edition) are building on my computer.
I gathered together a list of library association websites, and invite you to take a look at these resources, containing as they do much news, information, and ideas. Friends should be involved in their local library associations.
Check to see how much it costs to join, and if they have a listserv you can participate in for advocacy, fundraising and other partnership ideas.
Moving from west to east here are the websites:
British Columbia Library Assoc. -www.bcla.bc.ca/
Pacific Northwest Library Association (international) - www.pnla.org/
Library Association of Alberta - www.laa.ab.ca/
Foothills Library Assoc. - www.fla.org/
Saskatchewan Library Assoc. - www.lib.sk.ca/sla/
Manitoba Library Assoc. - www.mla.mb.ca/
Ontario Library Assoc. - www.accessola.org
The Quebec Library Association/ L' Association des bibliothécaires du Québec - www. abqla.qc.ca
Atlantic Provinces Library Assoc. - www.stmarys.ca/partners/apla/
Nova Scotia Library Assoc. - www.library.ns.ca/nsla/index.html
Newfoundland &Labrador Library Assoc.
www.infonet.st-johns.nf.ca/providers/nlla/
Friends' Day at OLA
Ontario Library Association Superconference,
Toronto, Ontario,
Saturday, February 3, 2001.
Find us in the exhibit hall during the week, and then join us Saturday for special programs, followed by a networking luncheon.
Random House of Canada
Friend of the Year Award 2001
Nomination deadline - February 28, 2001
Nominate your Friends group now, and it could win $500 in prizes from
Random House of Canada. A nomination form is included in this issue of
FOCAL POINT. For full details visit www.friendsoflibraries.ca/award.htm
5th Annual Friends' Day
Canadian Library Association,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Saturday, June 16, 2001
Plan to join us for special sessions arranged by our hosts, Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library. One low registration fee ($30) includes programs, networking luncheon and participation in our Annual General Meeting. Sponsored by Random House of Canada.
Watch for the registration form and deadline in our March newsletter.
The Ottawa Friends were delighted to be notified of a huge bequest from
a long-time Friend. Early in the new year, the Friends anticipate the arrival
of approximately $225,000, to be deposited in their Trust Fund.
International Year of Volunteers
http://www.iyv.org/iyv_eng/whatis/whatis.htm
United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2001 as the International Year of Volunteers. Objectives include increased recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteering, presenting a unique opportunity to highlight the achievements of the millions of volunteers worldwide. FOCAL is listed as a volunteer organization, but individual Friends of Libraries groups are encouraged to contact the website and be registered individually.
Starbucks Foundation Literacy Grants –
www.starbucks.com
Ken Wyman provides the tip, that charities can look to Starbucks for support of local literacy and reading projects.
Wyman reports this year's 4th annual All Books for Children (ABC) Book Drive, held between September 6th and October 4th, collected a total of 15,153 books for Ontario literacy organizations. The Book Drive, initiated by the Starbucks Coffee Company, provides local charities and schools with thousands of new and gently used books for children and adults. This year's total surpassed last year's by 2,500 books.
According to Wyman organizations that received books include Frontier College, the London Public Library, the Hamilton Public Library, The Child's Place in Windsor, and Kitchener-Waterloo's Project READ.
Details are found at Starbucks Foundation Literacy Grants webiste – http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/grantinfo.asp
Clipart Library Media & PR website –
http://www.ssdesign.com/librarypr
Friends’ Online Directory -
http://www.libdex.com/furl0.html
Register your group and link your website to this resource.
Online Boutiques
Christmas is over, but check out the boutique at the Friends of the
National Library of Canada’s website (http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/friends/eboutiqu.htm).You
might see something for that someone still on your gift list, or pick up
some tips on what is missing from your own Friends’ group’s gift shop.
Friends of the National Archives also has an online boutique at www.archives.ca/exec/naweb.dll?fs&070301&e&top&0
Thanks to our sponsors for their great support
CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
GROLIER EDUCATIONAL
ONTARIO LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
PACKAGING ALTERNATIVES
RANDOM HOUSE OF CANADA
SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE
WATTERS MARKETING
YOUR LIBRARY DEPOT
From the FOLA newsletter I found a reference to a Canadian manual. “The Library's Contribution to Your Community: A Resource Manual for Libraries to Document their Social and Economic Contribution to the Local Community” helps to demonstrate the value of your library in the community. It serves as an excellent planning and measurement tool for measuring the social and economic impact of the public library.
The publication is sold by Southern Ontario Library Service, 1900 City Park Drive, Suite 310, Gloucester, Ontario K1J 1A3 and e-mail Nancy Goodman at ngoodman@sols.org. to order
Publication prices are $25 plus taxes for additional copies for Ontario public, $100 plus taxes for not-for-profit organizations, $300 plus taxes for commercial organizations, consultants and special libraries.
Advice column:
Please reply to either the editor or the FOCAL listserv and share your
advice!
Capital Fundraising
In Smiths Falls, we wish to restore our almost century old Carnegie Library to its original state and upgrade to current mechanical, electrical, safety, and fire containment standards. The Friends will be expected to raise $20,000 -30,000. . . Any suggestions based on experiences and successes as to projects or approaches would be appreciated.
Tom Foulkes
E-mail: pfoulkes@altavista.net
- Is there still a Carnegie Foundation?
- Murder mystery - parent council at an elementary school raised over
$1,000 between dinner ticket sales and the liquor license.
- casinos or bingos
- built-by-the-brick campaign once described on the Internet - might
have been Red Deer Alberta where they were reburbishing a firehall for
a municipal library. I think the idea was people "bought" bricks and had
their name acknowledged
* Tom’s group did follow up the Carneige idea, and learned they have
not supported “bricks and mortar” funding since 1919. For grant funding
details see www.carnegie.org/.
New questions
How do different libraries handle the question of insurance for their Friends groups? Do Friends groups need insurance coverage? Are they covered under the library's policy? A related question is about volunteers (who may be members of the Friends) who deliver books to the home-bound. Are they covered by any insurance policy while out on their rounds, or should they be insured?
Starting a Gift Shop
We are considering opening a gift store in the new Ajax Public Library
- Can anyone give me information and tips!
Val Marshall, Ajax Public Library
Advice for dealing with personality conflicts:
The question:
Our problem concerns a volunteer we would like to ease out of the organization,
due to a personality problem that is causing other volunteers to drop out.
We would appreciate any guidance you may give us. (Anonymous)
First reply:
I have a friend who has an overbearing mother, and he was drafted to
explain to the mother that it might be time after all these years to relinquish
her duties on church committees. Does this person have a child or friend
who could perhaps be recruited to help solve your problem?
Could you isolate her influence - give her a one-person job.
Second reply:
Even a volunteer association has the right to 'fire' volunteers who
are disruptive or ineffective. A volunteer association has a job to do,
and shouldn't have to put up with someone making problems.
My suggestions:
Number one - can the volunteer be offered a task where she works alone? A position where it could be made to appear to her that it's being offered in recognition of 'special' skills? This is dodging the issue of getting the person out but it might get the person away from the others and give them a break.
Number two - the person could be taken aside privately by the volunteer coordinator [or whoever handles/selects volunteers] and be told that, unfortunately, due to several complaints from co-volunteers, the association has been put in the position of advising the person that their services are no longer required. The association can't be sued. It has the right to choose people who can work well together; after all, it's a team effort, right?
The coordinator can't name the people who complained but she can say what the complaints are [i.e. 'on a number of occasions you've made criticisms of other people's work' ]. It's important that the complaints be mentioned as neutrally as possible, not in an accusing manner. If possible, the incidents that caused problems should be documented briefly so the coordinator can refer to notes because the problem volunteer might demand examples of the complaints, seeing as she may not have any idea that she is affecting people so badly.
It has to be handled privately but it's a good idea for the volunteer coordinator to have one other person with her, not a peer of the problem volunteer. Maybe someone from the staff could be a witness or someone else from the committee; they don't have to say anything during the conversation. This is to protect the volunteer coordinator, by providing a witness to the conversation.
Action from the Atlantic
Friends of the Library groups have been in place in the Western Counties Regional Library at six branches dating back to 1996. The groups are proud of their local libraries and are dedicated to lending a helping hand for the benefit of their branches. Some of the recent activities:
- Clark's Harbour Friends have just completed another very successful
'Dutch Auction' where over $700 was raised.
- Shelburne Friends hosted their annual bake sale on Dec. 10th.
at the McKay Memorial Library.
- Yarmouth Friends hosted a giant booksale from Nov 30th to
Dec. 2nd and are finalizing plans for the installation of a bookshelf for
continuous booksales.
- Pubnico Friends hosted the annual Christmas Cookie Decorating
program in memory of Virginia d'Eon on Dec 23 and plans are in the works
for a comedy play to be staged in late winter or early spring.
We would like to hear from other Atlantic Friends Groups who can e-mail
their news to yarmouthfriends@goplay.com
(Source: Bryan Merrett)
The Carleton University Library Circle of Friends was officially
launched in October 2000. Member benefits include invitations to all Circle
receptions, exhibitions and events, participation in book readings, a book
club, behind-the-scenes library tours, virtual travel on the Internet,
pre-admission to annual book sale, subscription to Circle’s newsletter,
voting privileges and volunteer opportunities. Alumni and Patron membership
includes an outside borrower’s card.
It was reported in the last FOCAL newsletter that Friends of the Dundas Library (FODL) formed in 1999 and at their Annual General meeting in October established their constitution and elected officers. A Friends of the Library brochure was instrumental in attracting 50 new members. They published a newsletter, called “Between Friends”, provided volunteer help within the library, delivered books to house-bound patrons, held “Local Authors” talks and conducted the Cactus Festival Book Sale. FODL will be a partner to the Friends of the Hamilton Library. It remains to be seen how integrated our separate programmes become. (Source: Jim Nicol)
The October issue of Among Friends, from the Friends of the Meaford
Library included an acknowledgement from Library CEO Rita Orr, for
their assistance in preparing for automation for next year, to the volunteers
who supported their Open House and raised money at book sales and concerts
and other activities to help expand the budget for buying new books for
the Library.
Orr also described being rescued this summer by the Friends who
purchased a new dehumidifier for the basement, when the old one expired.
Her report noted that the Friends received a $10,000 grant from the
Graham Walker estate, to help the Library to meet a significant need. Money
went to purchase computers, work stations and chairs for the Genealogy
section of the Library.
The newsletter noted that, despite uncertain weather, the community
and tourists enjoyed and supported book sales and concerts. Five Sunday
concerts took place, where gently used books were sold. Like many in Ontario,
the community is in transition, as the Georgian Highlands are being created.
In the fall newsletter of the Friends of the Oakville Public Library, it was noted over 100 friends have joined since March 2000. There are now 332 paid members supporting the Friends of the Library. The Friends pledged $20,000 to support two Book Nooks. The first Book Nook demonstrated success in getting pre-school children in the area interested in reading. The first mini-library opened in a community marketplace, and the second opened later in the fall in a parent-child centre.
The Friends of the Coburg Public Library have their I LOVE TO READ raffle on now. The lucky winner wins a comfy reading corner, just in time for Valentine's Day. The prize package worth $1300 includes a recliner chair, side table, lamp, an area rug, books, a picture, a throw, a magazine basket, picture frames and a table plant. Story tellings and book readings are being arranged at a local shopping mall to draw attention to the "I LOVE TO READ" promotion. (http://www.cobourg.library.on.ca/friends.htm)
During the December executive meeting the Friends of the Mississauga Public Library were presented with a commemorative plaque honouring their five years of financial support of the International Children's Festival. The Friends of the Library donation helps bring children's authors to the Festival each year.
Successes noted in their December executive meeting minutes include:
Membership - 1,812 ( in 2000, welcomed 647 new members)
Book Sale Revenue - $76,000
Donations and Fund raising - $86,000
Fund Raising totaled $168,000, heading into December.
A fund raising initiative for the Friends of the St. Thomas Public
Library was the publication of a book entitled Memories of St. Thomas
and Elgin. This book is a collection of articles, short stories, poems,
and recollections from local people about their own memories of St. Thomas
and Elgin County. The hardcover editions were sold out, but paperback copies
were still available before Christmas.
(http://www.ccia.st-thomas.on.ca/stpl/friends.htm)
Meet the new Chairman of the Board – Val Marshall was not only reappointed to the Ajax Library Board by the new municipal Council, but she was elected by fellow Board members as Chairman of the Board. Congratulations!
One model for amalgamation might be the Friends of the Windsor Public Library - 8 of their ten branches have a friends group, including the municipal archives http://www.city.windsor.on.ca/wpl/donate/friends.asp
Can we share constitutions? The Friends of the Hamilton Public Library
have theirs online at:
http://www.hpl.hamilton.on.ca/FRIENDS/constit.htm
If you were in Winnipeg January 3rd your might have mingled with Fred Penner, The Summer Bear Hoop Dancers, JJ the Juggling Fool, and a thousand kids, and watched the unveiling the World's Largest Coin Bank! Face painting, bubble magic, free cake, and fun were all part of the celebration.
LOONIES FOR THE LIBRARY, sponsored by Winnipeg Library Foundation,
Inc., boasts the LARGEST coin bank in the World: 9 feet tall!
(Source : Todd Pennell, Executive Director)
Friends of the Madoc Public Library
Friends of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library
Trail Public Library
Carleton University Library Circle of Friends
Harry Campbell (Brampton)
Denis Nolan (Oakville)
Friends of the Merril Collection
Friends of the Meaford Library
FOLA - Australia
The 3rd biennial conference of Friends of Libraries Australia took place October 20-22, 2000 in Canberra. FOLA staged a full program with 17 speakers over two days.
Sessions included these topics:
Working together
Keys to Success
Friends and the Global Village
The Next Step: tomorrow
A National Focus.
